Sad about Hostess Brands closing, since it seems to be the result of an insoluble labor conflict, and while strikes often result in threats that they will result in the closure of a company, that rarely seems to actually happen as it has in this case. I find it interesting how many people are going all Tallahassee over the pending Twinkie shortage, however, as they are the poster child for crappy junk food, and I don't know anyone who has eaten one in recent memory, much less actually savors them (labor strife aside, I think if everyone saddened by this actually bought Twinkies, Hostess would be fine). In my opinion, Hostess only ever made one really good product, which was their fruit pies, which I have not seen in a store in over a decade if not longer. I assumed they stopped making them, but I see them on eBay at seemingly exorbitant prices, so I'm not sure if that's due to the Hostess closure, or perhaps they are working off old stock, since these babies are half preservatives anyway (I think it's the latter, as the labels all seem to feature Fruit Pie the Magician, and Wikipedia says he was removed from the packaging in 2006).

ChandlerL wrote on Nov 18, 2012, 02:20:The baker's union just made the decision for 18,000 people-- most of whom were not part of that union.

Unions began life as a beacon of hope for an industrializing young nation. However most haven't been a mouthpiece for the worker in some time and is no better, hell often worse, than the businesses they try to vilify.

The union is the one being vilified here and they did the only possible thing they could. The severity of the latest concession that Hostess asked for would have put many of the bakers near the poverty line. The union doesn't collect any dues from members of a defunct company, if there was another option they would have taken it but Hostess didn't give any ground. The workers had already given major concessions while the executives actually gave themselves huge salary bumps and bonuses while the company struggled. But please don't let facts get in the way of a union rant probably brought on by misconceptions in the media who are owned by corporations who hate unions.